Those Days and Nowadays

This study was carried out in the Biyagama Trade Zone (FTZ), and non-FTZ factories in the rural and peri-urban settings of Hambantota and Bandaragama in order to examine the relationship between employment and poverty amongst the predominantly female workforce in FTZ and non-FTZ factories. The research show that the workers’ perceptions of poverty are different from official poverty lines and shaped by a variety of factors. The study also demonstrates that families’ household income increased significantly after the workers were employed in the factories and that there is a positive correlation between women’s empowerment and distance from their family.